THE former home secretary Suella Braverman has blamed the Progress pride flag and “liberal conservatives” for the party’s humiliating General Election defeat.
During a speech at the National Conservatism conference in Washington, Braverman – who is among the likely candidates to launch a leadership bid to succeed Rishi Sunak – described the Progress pride flag which represents LGBT+ equality as “monstrous”.
As opposed to the historical Pride flag, which displays the colours of the rainbow, the Progress pride flag also includes colours to represent people of colour, those living with HIV/AIDS, and transgender people.
“The Progress flag flew over our buildings as if they were occupied territory,” she said.
“I wanted to scrap the unconscious bias training which basically taught people how bad and racist Britain was.
“I was told that ‘I was on the wrong side of history’ by my senior civil servant.
“I couldn’t even get the flag of a horrible political campaign I disagreed with taken down from the roof of the government department I was supposed to be in charge of.
“My question, why is this happening, went to 10 Downing Street, to the prime minister’s office.
“And that’s where the answer failed to come from.
“Because, to repeat this point once more, far, far too many Tory politicians agreed that the Progress flag must be flown.
“It shows how liberal and progressive we are, which is something many Conservatives want us to be.
“The Progress flag says one monstrous thing to me: That I was a member of a government that presided over the mutilation of children in our hospitals.”
Contrary to Braverman’s claim, the minimum age for receiving gender assignment surgery in the UK is 18 years old.
Following the publication of the Cass Review – which was recently criticised by experts at Yale University – the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone treatment was also paused for new patients under-18 on the NHS in England and Scotland.
Her speech suggests that her bid for the party leadership will focus on steering the Tories even further to the right with a focus on culture war issues such as healthcare for the small number of transgender children in the UK.
“We won a great majority in 2019 promising to do what the people wanted,” she said.
“We were going to use our Brexit freedoms and stop waves of illegal migrants. We were going to cut taxes. We were going to stop the lunatic woke virus. We did none of this.”
She continued: “Our problem is us. Our problem is that the liberal Conservatives who trashed the Tory party think it was everyone’s fault but their own.
“My party governed as liberals and we were defeated as liberals. But seemingly, as ever, it is Conservatives who are to blame.”
Suella Braverman has chosen every word in her anti-LGBT speech deliberately to stoke fear and division for her own gain. She is unfit for public office. https://t.co/iSudpz9OQJ
— Monica Lennon MSP (@MonicaLennon7) July 8, 2024
The speech has been widely condemned on social media.
Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: "Suella Braverman has chosen every word in her anti-LGBT speech deliberately to stoke fear and division for her own gain.
"She is unfit for public office."
While campaigner Talat Yaqoob said: "It’s going to be another appalling leadership bid in the Tories, where they clamber to lurch as far right as possible whilst appearing moral.
"Relieved they are nowhere near power now, and hope that the influence of the, particularly harmful, few continues to diminish."
